Helena Starks…

Okay, let's backup a little bit. I want to be very clear here that you understand that it wasn't as if Angel and I were fighting. We never argued. Things were quiet and civilized.

Yes, I was a little disappointed,. There were things I expected to be different, but it wasn't as if I couldn't understand why they were like they were. I just figured it'd take some time.

And it certainly did take time…

Anyway, I signed up for the Photography class. Helena was a freshman at the University of Dayton, her father was a major or a colonel at Wright-Pat. She was one of those little flirty girls. She was definitely cute and definitely knew it.

I'm not really sure why she started flirting with me, but she jumped right into it. And, you know, I flirted right back. I could play that game. If she could tease, I could tease.

We got very good at it.

It was just a game. Just teasing.

Well, so I thought. So I thought until the pictures arrived. There were about six in the package. To the left here is a cropped version of the mildest one. They came with notes from Helena explaining what she was thinking in each pose.

At first it freaked me out. Then I decided she was just pushing this to a higher level of teasing. Well, then I just started wondering what if it was more.

She wasn't in class the next time. This served to keep her on my mind. (Not that the pictures didn't do that as well.)

Helena was there for the next class. And just as flirty as ever.

"So, Jesse, you want to skip class next week? We could go play somewhere."

Okay, what can I say? I know I was married. I know I had a kid. I know Helena was probably six years younger than me.

But she looked so good. And she acted so bad.

Besides, this could still just be a tease. Helena could just be setting me up just to see how far I'd go.

There was a little motel not far from the hospital. We decided to meet there. I told Angel I had to go into work that night to cover for a co-worker. She didn't even ask who it was. She really didn't seem to care. She had some big paper she was working on.

So, it was on. Let's rock 'n' roll.

Let's just say that Helena wasn't just teasing. Let's just say she showed me things, taught me things, Satin and Angel never did.

The next morning, Helena just had to have breakfast somewhere, and this motel wasn't exactly the kind of place they have Room Service. There was a diner up the street a bit, across from the hospital, so we went there.

As I went up to pay the bill, Chrissy walked in. she was more than a little surprised to see me. I was about half way through some reason I was there when Helena came up.

"So, Jesse, is this your wife?"

"No. Uh, Helena, this is Chrissy, an old friend of mine."

Helena looked Chrissy up and down. "Well, then I guess maybe last night wasn't the first time you've done this."

I just stood there.

"Well, I gotta get going. It was fun. See you in class next week. Bye, Chrissy."

Well, as you might imagine Chrissy and I had a long talk.. If you call a long talk Chrissy telling me what a damn fool I was and what was I doing with a cheap little teenage tramp and what about my wife and my kid and if I was that horny I should have found some other release and what if it had been Angel instead of her and just how stupid was I to go to the same diner she and I have breakfast at and I better talk to Angel about this as soon as I could. She was a bit upset.

But she was right.

I tried to talk to Angel. Before she left for class that night I told her we needed to talk. All she said was "I know, Jesse. I know." But she was too tired when she got home. And the next night I had to go back to work. So it was Saturday before we got to talk.

I was about to say my piece, tell Angel what happened with Helena, and face the consequences. Before I could though, Angel looked at me and said, "I think we should separate for awhile."

I just stared at her.

"There's been a lot going on, Jesse. A lot of things aren't the same. We need to get away from each other. I need some space. I want you to move out."